xXBatmanXx wrote on Mar 10, 2015, 20:57:
Has nothing to do with admission or hiring. It has to do with training. It is sad to me that people that would be, or are great cops, get very sub standard training.

I and many of my partners have been in situations where we had every right to pull the trigger and we didn't.

Whats the diff? Training, preparation, repetition, reinforcement, review, and more training.

What I don't get, is why there isn't some sort of federal code of conduct for Law Enforcement?

Goes by State. Here in MN it is the POST BOARD, they hold my license.

Makes me sad to see anti police remarks. We are fighting a war on the street. Anyone who thinks different lives in a bubble. I don't even work in Minneapolis, but all of the bad guys live where I work. That being said, I know and meet a lot of really good people everyday - but the majority of my interaction with the public is fielding calls and dealing with bad guys.

I love you Bats, you seem like one of the good guys: out there doing the job, thoughtful, working hard, being fair, upholding the law. But when you say "we are fighting a war" that's the exact kind of phrasing that leads to things like Ferguson and the man shot in Pasco. Policing is never war, nor should it ever be thought of that way. Who is the enemy? Are they well armed, attacking the police department with organized platoons of soldiers, trying to kill you daily?

When the term "war" is used by the police, then it becomes the police vs. society, and everyone is the "enemy." And the police overreact, and we have incidents like deaths during no-knock raids (a military tactic) of both innocent civilians and police because they had the wrong address. When former soldiers comment that their RoE were stricter in Fallujah than what they see in Ferguson, something is very wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I am pro-police. My best friend from high school is a townie, and my daughter's friend from birth's father is a state trooper. These are people I've known and trusted for decades. As you say, it's training. The US also has a unique wrench: the 2nd amendment. No other country has the number of guns we do. All that being said, we are bombarded with report after report of police shooting unarmed people, or minimally armed people (he has a knife! says a police officer from 30' away before shooting). Something has to change.